Two major hedge funds reveal $2.4 billion exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs

Millennium Management and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors disclosed some of the largest spot Bitcoin ETF investments among traditional financial firms to date, according to their 13F filings for the first quarter.

Millennium invested a total of $1.9 billion in spot Bitcoin ETFs, comprised of $844.2 million in BlackRock’s IBIT, $806.7 million in Fidelity’s FBTC, $202 million in Grayscale’s GBTC, $45.0 million in Ark’s ARKB, and $44.7 million in Bitwise’s BITB.

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors disclosed a $248.0 million investment in IBIT and a $231.8 million investment in FBTC, totaling $479 million.

Largest IBIT holders

According to Fintel data, the two funds hold the largest IBIT and FBTC investments, with Millenium first in each category and Schonfeld second. Millenium also ranks among the 10 largest holders for each of the other spot Bitcoin ETF investments.

In addition to the significant size of each company’s investments, the disclosure represents a major hedge fund manager’s entry into Bitcoin ETFs.

Millenium had $69 billion in assets under management (AUM) at the end of 2023, while Schonfeld had $13 billion in AUM.

Filing deadline closes

Each company’s disclosure comes at the last minute, as May 15 marks the quarterly deadline for 13F filings. Numerous other firms, including Aristeia Capital, Boothbay Fund Management, and Pine Ridge, disclosed large investments in IBIT and other funds earlier today.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley disclosed an investment in GBTC, revealing itself as one of several Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs) with spot Bitcoin ETF holdings.

Days earlier, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan estimated that over 700 professional companies would invest nearly $5 billion in total by the May 15 deadline. However, he emphasized that retail investment is responsible for a large portion of spot Bitcoin ETF assets.

All 10 available spot Bitcoin ETFs have combined assets under management of $53 billion and cumulative inflows of $12 billion.

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